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Here's the source on that. Here's the "scare version" in the Western media:

https://www.gamesradar.com/min...

"Chinese gamers face direct ‘social penalties’, such as lack of access to Visa schemes and dating sites ... Buying games could potentially lower your ‘social credit’ in China by 2020 if a new government scheme gains traction. The Black Mirror style trial scheme discourages certain types of behaviour and can even penalise people for buying video games."

As much as I don't like the phrase, this text is absolutely "fake news" since there is no such plan for the Feds in China to monitor video game playing, or block people from dating sites:

https://www.bbc.com/news/world...
"Someone who plays video games for 10 hours a day, for example, would be considered an idle person, and someone who frequently buys diapers would be considered as probably a parent, who on balance is more likely to have a sense of responsibility," Li Yingyun, Sesame's technology director told Caixin, a Chinese magazine, in February."

Note, these are ideas completely concocted by a private company Sesame, owned by Ali Baba fo their social-network score "Sesame Credit". If you score higher on Sesame Credit, then the company wants to do things like place you higher in search results on their platform-owned dating app. And you can score poorly for e.g. playing games ON the Sesame platform for 10 hours a day.

Note: this is completely different to the first article's claims that (1) buying games will (2) get you banned from dating apps due to (3) the Chinese government's social credit system. It's actually, if you (1) game too many hours per day on particular online platform you could be (2) down-rated on THEIR dating app due to (3) a scoring system unique to that company. It's nothing to do with the government, the social-credit system and doesn't in fact mention "banning" anyone from anything.

this is why the articles are junk, it takes very little research to prove them wrong. There are almost no sources you can trust to get the basic facts right here, no matter who you agree with.

those are rookie numbers
https://www.gamesradar.com/big...

plus. one failed windows update can re-download repeatedly over and over. when that happens to be a feature update, that means 100+ gigs *a day*, or more. whatever your connection is, windows update will try to use it all up in its efforts to ram that update up your ass.

Ah-ha. I found it. My google-fu must've have not been strong that day.
The example I was thinking of:
https://www.gamesradar.com/pc-...

A most recent example:
https://www.pcgamer.com/mouse-...

To be fair, some claim Ms. Pac-Man was an even better play.

That depends on your perspective.

With enough cash reserves to lose $250M a year until 2052 before needing to call for bankruptcy... I'd say they are pretty financially smart.

Combined with the fact that most Mario games outsell Poke'mon during a given generation of games. Don't forget that Poke'mon is owned by the Pokemon Company, a consortium of three companies of which Nintendo is a part. So Nintendo won't see 100% of the profits from any of those sales.

You're also omitting some of their other heavy hitting first party titles. Legend of Zelda, Metroid, Smash Bros., Mario Kart, Pikmin, Animal Crossing.

Nintendo's biggest problem has been third-party developers for their consoles ever since the N64. The GameCube had a few really good titles, but nowhere near the PS2. The Wii hit it big, but again not a wide range of good titles like the PS3 and XB360. Wii U? well, we've seen how well that's been doing... Now if only they'd release that Zelda game and a Metroid or 2...

It's also fairly accurate to say that if someone invests 50 hours into a game and then wants a refund...calling them a thief isn't too far off base.

That depends if they were looking for an advertised feature that the developers knew wasn't there but were intentionally vague about it anyway.

I mean we're talking about a game that even has an online play written on the box along with PEGI age restriction which is automatically applied to online games which interact with other characters. Except you won't see this unless you look under the sticker they stuck over it.
http://www.gamesradar.com/no-m...

Time is not a metric that comes into play for intentionally misleading advertising.

You can definitely do this (I have, back when it was a lot harder) but I'd suggest picking a PvE server and a stealthy class like Rogue or Druid if you plan to explore areas significantly beyond your character's level. Stay out of enemy cities and give mobs with skull icons a wide berth and you can explore a lot of the world with a low level character. As beautiful as the zones are, though, I'm not sure you'll keep busy for more than a week or three *just* exploring.

On the other hand, there's really no grind to speak of until you approach/reach the level cap. Pick up a questline and follow it, run some dungeons (there's so many at low levels you don't need to do the same one twice) and you'll level up extremely fast and with very little boredom. If you're a casual player, the rest system will make your leveling go even faster. There's even a class they added recently, the 'Monk', which gets an big boost to leveling, and their refer-a-friend program bonus makes leveling just ridiculous. And if level capping faster than most single player games wasn't enough, they've started offering a huge boost when you buy the current expansion, so you can start a character at close to the maximum level, ready for almost anything in the game.

Of course things get dull again not long after you hit the level cap, so you might also consider rotating MMOs; there are tons of them these days; play one till you get bored or hit the "grind starts here" level cap, then switch to another; when you get back round to the first it should have new content to keep the grind away a while longer.

This has nothing to do with the relations between Brazil and Japan and everything to do with the fact that Nintendo is dying. This company has shown time and again that all they can do is release tired useless gimmick after tired useless gimmick and pass that off as "innovation". They release the same games every single year with absolutely no change and force their customers to pay a massive premium. The Wii was a massive joke, except no one laughed. Their 3DS handheld has less power than the original PlayStation Portable and costs 3 times as much and has no games. The Wii U has less power than the original XBOX much less the 360. Don't get me started on that abomination of a controller that weighs as much as a cinder-block, has a range of about 1 foot, and a battery life measured in minutes and not hours.

Nintendo is the corporate equivalent of the walking dead. I doubt they will even be around in five years. Even their own shareholders can't stand them. They would just be better selling off all their IP to a company that knows how to actually produce something, like Disney. Then Miyamoto and Iwata should do the world a favor and commit sepuku to atone for the massive failures they have inflicted on the game industry.

Ooo, this should be fun. I'mma go ahead and debunk basically everything you've just said that can be proven with numbers.

The Wii was a massive joke.: FALSE. The Wii has sold over 100 million units, and about 9 times as much software (so, about 9 games per console. Not bad!)

The 3DS handheld has less power than the original Playstation Portable and costs 3 times as much and has no games: FALSE. The 3DS runs an ARM11 Dual-core at 268 Mhz compared to the PSP's CPU held back to 222MHz. The only way it's more powerful is through mods/hacking. In addition, the 3DS has had over 186 million software units sold, compared to psp's 5.2 million. In addition, the PSP retailed for $199. The 3DS retailed for $249, and later went down to $149. So, no, not three times more.

The Wii U has less power than the original XBOX much less the 360: FALSE.The WII U is lcocked at 1.24 GHz, compared to the original Xbox's 733Mhz. Now, the Wii U does have a slower clock than the 360, but has more memory and a higher GPU clock. Raw CPU power will only get you so far, and the Wii U is more than capable of out-shining the 360.

Controller weighs as much as a cinder-block, has a range of 1 foot and battery life measured in minutes, not hours.: FALSE. The Wii U gamepad weighs about 1.1 pounds. Cinder blocks, on the other hand, usually come in at 30 to 35 pounds. The range goes up to 27.5 feet, but typically works best up to 15. The Battery life CAN be measured in minutes, but only if you consider that 180 to 300 minutes a better way of saying it than 3 to 5 hours.

Nintendo is the corporate equivalent of the walking dead. I doubt they'll even be around in five years.: FALSE. Nintendo has enough money saved up to last 52 years, assuming an annual deficit of 250 million. That seems unlikely given that they had a profit of over

AI not required. If movement detected in object of predetermined size within weapon range, shoot it until it stops moving. Example.

Reserve the AI effort for hunting/gathering ammunition.
We're all gonna die.

The NES version looks low res with about three colours, that is if you count black as a colour.

16 actually, I've counted.

How about a real comparison with more than just a single screenshot.

Lots of text on black on those NEC PC88/PC98 screens. The NES version does look better. You'd be able to see the difference better in battles with multiple opponents, and while outdoors. There are no screenshots of the NES version for that.

(Deus Ex)And yes, the PC version still looks miles better than that blurry, low res mess with crap lighting on PS2.

Miles is an exaggeration. The PS2 version compares favorably with the GOTY version, which I do have. Want to know why I have it? To actually put the statements made by guys like you to the test. I've done the same for the PC versions of Diablo 1, Diablo 3, and Fallout 3.

(Half-life)Yeah, I wonder why it never released for Dreamcast. Oh, that's right, it was too weak to handle it.

It was two weeks from gold when it was canceled...because of changing market conditions. Meaning the PS2 was stomping the Dreamcast in sales.

The PS2 version is still so low resolution that any "enhancements" that they made are effectively hidden behind huge, pixelated blocks.

What huge pixelated blocks. did you see it on a PS2 connected to an old TV over RF or something? Try playing it in widescreen mode (yes, it has it.) over component cables. While I don't have a capture card...I could take a screenshot.

(Deus Ex)Want to have a guess at why game companies segregate PC and console players in FPS games? It's because all FPS game are unplayable on gamepad. Watching someone try to do it is hilarious and sad at the same time. Even the very worst PC FPS player can spank the best console FPS player because it's such a horrible means of control.

That issue is not relevant here, since DX is a single player game and any purported control issues are not relevant because the PS2 version supports PC style control schemes. Though again, I recommend hybrid control, analog for movement, mouse for aiming, the game supports it.

(Sacred 2)As someone who played both games on PC, it is definitely a mouse oriented game.

It's quite possible to design an interface that doesn't require a mouse. You've played the PC version, it's designed for the mouse. The PS3/Xbox 360 versions have a nicely designed control system.

Have fun navigating every single menu option, inventory item and on-screen buttons with a gamepad.

You do know that it's possible for a game to use different interfaces on different platforms right? So the PS3 version is designed to work well on the Dual Shock.

Basically you cannot refute the true statement that I made, so you cry troll.

I can take screenshots if you want, or point to video.

http://static.gamesradar.com/i...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?...

Surprised you didn't mention the real fault of PSone Diablo, the saved games eating up 10 blocks on a memory card.

They are trying to sell their PC to console port, so of course they are going to try to spin it as though gamepads aren't crap for this style of game.

Gamepads work well with Diablo clones, we've known this since 1998. That's why there have been many such games since then on various consoles. Diablo, Darkstone, Baldur's Gate Dark Alliance 1 and 2, Champions of Norrath 1 and 2, X-Men Legends 1 and 2, Marvel Ultimate Alliance 1 and 2. Hunter the Reckoning, Sacred 2, Dungeon Hunter Alliance, the 3 Untold Legends games, D&D Wa

Have you heard of a site called google (www.google.com), it's called a search engine, type in pc gamers vs console competition and you get pages full of results like http://www.gamesradar.com/pc-gamers-destroyed-console-gamers-in-tests-says-voodoo-pc-founder/ and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=59DcDvKrsBc . Also if you really want the cititation and arnt able of finding it your self, sign in so you can see some one has replied.

Are prison locks or facilities even hackable?

I dont know about prisons in Sweden but here in the UK they get access to games consoles (and France appears Xbox exclusive), satellite TV and more so I fail to see the harm in a calculator even if it was designed to be user hackable.
http://www.gamesradar.com/over-36000-prisoners-allowed-to-own-game-consoles-in-the-uk/

The problem being, of course, that sometimes they do release games that the console is under-specced for, resulting in unexpected slowdowns etc

This is especially true when multi-console releases are attempted and the hardware specs don't quite line up. At that point, you've got a game that runs just as poorly on the console as it would on an under-specced PC

Torchlight definitely wasn't as good as Diablo 1 or 2, but for their budget I think Runic Games did a good job. One big thing that I really enjoyed with Torchlight was the modding (something that Blizzard will never allow with Diablo 3). With Torchlight you could download new heroes, pets, items, quests and countless other enhancements. Torchlight 2 will also have mod support and you can use those mods in online co-op games (as long as everyone is using the same mods).

Also, the guys at Runic Games are pretty awesome. They're against DRM and don't care about piracy. I'll gladly support them in the future.

Looks good, but it just brought up the following gamesradar link from March as if it were new! :-)
http://www.gamesradar.com/dragon-age-and-yakuza-delayed-disaster-report-4-canceled-in-reaction-to-quake/

Couple of kinks still in there, perhaps.

Here is a link to the story about the data mining with a screen shot of the blurb: http://www.gamesradar.com/ea-backtracks-slightly-over-disturbing-data-mining-origin-eula/

Yep.
Another like-minded developer made on in homage to Blizzard.

More relevant than even those, however, is the entire fake mall that opened in 2009. Genuine imitation brands only! Get your McDnoald’s hamburgers, Bucksstar Coffee, and a Pizza Huh (not Hut) Pizza all under one roof! A Google search for fake mall also nets a 2007 YouTube video of an all-fake mall; I don't know if it's the same one (YT blocked by firewall).

Really, this Apple store shouldn't surprise anyone.

...allow voice chat in game? I don't see what you were trying to indicate with that. I mean, I can voice chat with other people around with world using my PC, but that doesn't mean it's a telephone.

Any game with voice chat turns the PS3 into "a telecommunications device that transmits and receives sound, most commonly the human voice". PS3 with the Eye accessory already does video chat, which includes voice. Can you show that "telephone" is defined in copyright law to require connection to the PSTN, and if so, would that be reason enough to cancel rumored Skype?

http://www.gamesradar.com/xbox360/xbox-360/news/kinects-new-york-launch-misses-expectations-but-still-a-good-party/a-20101104112747310011/g-20060321132945404017

Hard to imagine how bad Kinect has to be for hardcore Xbox fans to not even buy it. These are the same guys who have bought 3,4, or 5 versions of the worst console hardware in history with the RRoD plagued Xbox 360 and the shitty HD-DVD format.

works out exactly the same either way.

Not true.

...For the subsequent seven thresholds, players will earn skill/experience points at a gradually decreasing rate, eventually reaching a rate of zero. Nobuaki Komoto

Whereas in World of Warcraft, "Rested XP" is a resource that provides entirely additional XP - on top of 'base XP' - until exhausted. That is, there is a base experience reward level.

More, the Rested XP applies to only particular kinds of experience gains, where (as near as I can tell), FFXIV fatigue affects all experience gains equally.

As much as I adore Portal, you are correct. It is only a novelty when you have been exposed to countless cookie-cutter shooters to the point of utter desperation. To the game-naive bystander, it's just a game where you follow arbitrary abstract rules to achieve certain goals; essentially a glorified puzzle.

In fact, this is what happens when you treat Portal as anything beyond that.

I agree with you that some pirates will download anything they have half an interest in playing. By the way, do you have a source for your claim?

Although, I also saw some numbers recently in another article describing the huge differences in sales and piracy between the PC and XBox. Their numbers for Modern Warfare 2 were:
PC sales: 270,000
PC pirated copies: 4.1 million copies
XBox sales: 6+ million
XBox pirated copies: 970,000 copies

When I look at discrepancies like that - both in terms of PC vs. XBox sales (270,000 vs 6,100,000), and percentage of pirated copies (94% pirated on the PC, 14% pirated on the XBox), it's hard not to believe that piracy is harming sales. Source: http://www.gamesradar.com/f/drm-necessary-evil-or-consumer-insult/a-20100518133549635045

I am reminded of the episode of The Big Bang Theory in which Leonard discovers that his ex-girlfriend, one 'Joyce Kim,' is in fact a North Korean spy who'd just been dating him for information about his rocket fuel research.

Can't we just go back to a time when things were simpler and it was just hot Russian spies that we had to contend with?

throwing profitability out the window

I don't know 5 developers who each earned over $140k in around a week by re-releasing games that had already been released and made money before. I would call that pretty damn profitable.

There is value in IP. Money is usually exchanged for that value. The fact that people who pirated it would not have paid is irrelevant. Again, even if pirates decided to pay it was at the expense of profits.

There is value in IP. This value is determined by those who would like to trade for it (such as paying money). The fact that most who pirated it would not have paid is very relevant. There's no sale lost, there's no profit that was not had in those downloads. Nothing that could have been done would have changed anything there and therefore this isn't your target market. You don't release a product expecting every one to buy it, you only expect the target market to pay for it (and consider it a bonus when others you didn't expect to do). So why focus on stopping a segment of the market that is not profitable at the expense of shrinking your target market (thus reducing profitability) by way of DRM or other things.

Consider the fact that even the developers stated that they believe there is no acceptable inconvenience for paying customers that is worth attempting to stop piracy. It would seem the developers have the same attitude that the piracy is irrelevant other than a curiosity.

I know I'm just feeding the troll. I really don't want to do this.

Om nom nom. Thanks for the meal...but I'm not a troll. Thanks for labeling someone who simply disagrees with you and is trying to have a discussion as just a troll. :)

Your comment appears to imply that iPod Touch has no worthwhile single-player RPGs. The authors of this article and this article beg to differ. True, they aren't Pokemon or Zelda, but PSP doesn't have those titles either.

Whilst the UK has some serious problems with internet monitoring and privacy (_not_ censorship, at least not by the government at the moment) they're pretty hands off w.r.t. games, and are generally the same as the US. Games are rated, that rating is legally binding, but very, very few games are "banned" or otherwise restricted from sale. Other countries in Europe (e.g. Germany) are much more restrictive, typically around violence and Nazi imagery.

See this page for a summary.

I'd be much, much more afraid of Uwe Boll.

This game is only a way to play old-skool Mega-man on the newer platforms and it isn't the first MM game to do it.

Nothing new to see here, move along.

On the other hand, there are so many damn characters that they could start a Mega Man MMORPG -- would it be called a MMMMORPG? :)

While the Saturn was definitely a flop, it was still an amazing console (arguably the best 2D focused console ever made). It's a shame that Sega chose to go 2D when the world went 3D, but the Saturn was still a huge jump from the Genesis (even with Sega CD & 32X attached).

I've always wondered what would have happened had Sega made a switch to 3D with the Saturn. They had an amazing 3D sonic prototype (the demo of a level was on Sonic Jam), there's a great article called The Greatest Sonic Game We Never Got to Play [1] which shows it in detail.

Even though the hardware was focused on rendering 2D sprites, it still had some amazing games. Standout titles included:
NiGHTS Into Dreams (one of my favorite games ever)
Panzer Dragoon 1/2/Saga (Saga still fetches $100+ on eBay)
Radiant Silvergun
Shining Force III
Virtua Fighter II
Guardian Heroes
Dragon Force I/II
Daytona USA

A few of these games had Genesis/32X versions and the difference was night and day. While the Saturn was a flop (and a slap on the face to people that got a 32X which was released just months before the unexpected Saturn launch), it was definitely a step above any of the current systems of its time. While I won't call it more advanced then the PlayStation, I wouldn't call it less advanced either. Sony bet on polygons, sega went with sprites, and the public chose 3D. The Saturn is still a great system though.

[1]http://www.gamesradar.com/f/the-greatest-sonic-game-we-never-got-to-play/a-2008042416124625044/p-8

What? This one from TFA????

If everything I've been hearing about Warhawk is true, he might not be willing to swap.

For instance, this preview from GamesRadar titled "The online blast we'll still be playing when Halo 3 is a distant memory".

You forgot Warhawk.

To quote a recent preview

"The online blast we'll still be playing when Halo 3 is a distant memory" ... that would be the title, and certainly enough to be fighting words. :)

Turns out, though, according to a recent leak from a gaming mag... there IS a moral dilemma in this game. That is to say, you only get the good ending if, counter to all expectations, you play the game relatively honorably. Just something that I thought deserved mentioning in the whole "is this game REALLY art?" debate.

Most top..n articles are 7 on that site.
http://www.gamesradar.com/us/ps3/game/features/ind ex.jsp?releaseId=20060314115917309058&sectionId=10 03

...is that Ellen Feiss?!

http://www.gamesradar.com/us/xbox360/game/news/art icle.jsp?articleId=2006081195220737049&sectionId=1 006

Pics:
http://www.xbox365.com/news.cgi?id=GGrirdrLru05112 035

The PS3 may or may not be quiet, but going by EVERYTHING I've read and seen about it, no one can use the size of the PS3 as an advantage over the 360.

"These rumours are unfounded and, to my knowledge, SCEE has no plans to change our business model to adopt such a system."

Since I can read /. on my internet connection, but I cannot play any steam games with it, I have no intention of investing in any more of their products.
This culture of distrusting end users is absurd, and it only hurts the legitimate users. The pirates always find their way around security.
Now the rumor is that Sony is maneuvering to license PS3 games and not actually sell you the game disc. (http://www.gamesradar.com/gb/ps3/game/news/articl e.jsp?articleId=20060524153157765035&sectionId=100 6)
I've been a bit off topic, but I don't enjoy playing games how they want and where they want. I'll find a nice open source game... like chess or sudoku.

This is the same site that falsely announced that the base-model PSP woul have wired controllers and a non-upgradable hard drive:
http://www.gamesradar.com/gb/ps3/game/news/article .jsp?articleId=20060513133719562032&sectionId=1006

I know it's probably totally unreasonable to ask Slashdot to "consider the source" but GamesRadar has a reputation of inaccuray and sensationalism.

Game specialty stores still account for over 25% of US sales of video games, systems and accessories. They are also successful in large part because of used games. This move would essentially hamstring them and either lead to them dropping Sony product from their stores or just going out of business.

"Sony is after something much bigger than the gaming market with the PS3."

Yes, I think it's safe to assume that the PS3 will be used for WMD's.

"Wow, bugfixes for free? MS really just wants to spread the love!"

Actually troll you mis-quoted me... most likely in a pathetic attempt to try and have a point. I was referring to the spam filter (that is excellent by the way). It is not a fix, it's a new feature. I know for you kiddies that is tough to understand. Here is my full quote that you edited.

"Have any of you tried the new service pack with Exchange 2003? The spam filter is awesome. I have a client's office that was getting almost 50k spam email a day, and it has gotten rid of 99% + in their mailboxes (check it out Inteligent Message Filter, not the senderid stuff either). oh and it's, FREE."

Crazy when you put things in context huh? Let's try one of your quotes now.

"Really? The 360 sold something like 350,000 in November. Assuming they sold twice that many in December (which I doubt), that would only be 1.05 million. And let's just conveniently ignore the lackluster launch in Japan."

I applaud you for being the queen of FUD. Your number of 350k (US numbers only) would by correct if Microsoft stopped selling them in November, however my little troll they are not doing that. In fact they will continue selling (into the millions, like I said) up until and past the time Sony releases the PS3. Sony has also helped confirmed this by saying they will be releasing nothing until the spring and even then possibly only in Japan.

Go for it, do the math. Guess what you get? Millions. MS has also announced to their shareholders that they are on track to sell approx. 3 million worldwide in the first 90 days. Again, your sad attempt to have a point has showed your ignorance

Let's try another one of your more aggressive points.

"Once again, let's just conveniently ignore facts that don't fit into our propagandizing worldview. Nintendo already has free online play. This will go to the console with the Revolution."

Ignore the facts? hmmmm.... That's sweet you think Nintendo counts. You stand almost alone in believing Nintendo is much of a player anymore. Maybe with little kids, but nobody thinks the next gen war is with anyone but Sony and MS. Either you truly don't get it or are choosing to spread FUD. I would like to think you are spreading FUD, but sadly I suspect you are just dull.

By the way the facts do support me. Sony did make that statement on the PS3 not having an X-box live style service. The report first came from Phil Harrison of Sony speaking to the US Edition of the Official Playstation magazine. Here is a link from one of the reports on it.
http://www.gamesradar.com/news/default.asp?pagetyp eid=2&articleid=37848&subsectionid=2524

See you are a typical zealot that has been spreading FUD for so long that you have honestly started to believe it. Sad and funny at the same time. You are setting yourself up for great disappointment, and fit into the person I was describing in the parent thread perfectly.

Do me a favor? In five years when you realize what I said was right, take a picture of your crumbling world? Post it on the web, I'd enjoy the laugh. Actually on second thought, don't take the picture if you are still in your mommy's basement playing games... that would just be kinda sad if you were still doing that.

I don't think they ever stated whether it used RF

Bluetooth in fact, according to this. (Then again, he's a marketing head, he might not be the most knowledgeble person technically...)

I'm guessing if they really are using triangulation to determine the controller position, there would have to be another sensor point in the console iteself in addition to the two external ones.

Until now we weren't sure that the Xbox 360 was going to support many games at all. Certainly not what model it was going to use. Now we learn that they will be making the emulators long after its release, and most likely ANY NEW XBOX game will come with a 360 emulator. This is a big plus for gamers.We should be happy to see the MODEL being used. I've seen too many 'that sucks' and complaints and it really surprises me... well... I guess its important to know the audience on this site.

The truth is it's also a blow to Sony; because recent rumblings have been they won't be 100% backwards compatible, and they already said they won't offer an XBox-Live style service.So how do you support more games after the release? Some type of system updater? In any case it won't be as familiar to people as Live is. Being able to jump on live and just download the emulator for your game is pretty easy for the end user. If any of you have seen the latest PS3 screen shot, well its pretty confusing layout (lets hope Sony changes it).

The bottom line is this a pretty good business decision for MS. They have the potential to be virtually 100% backwards compatible over time. I'm SURE they are going to crank out emulators like crazy after launch. 212 is allot, and if you look at the time-line since the 360 was finished (most likely around the time they started making the emulators), this was probably all they could get done by launch. I will take the bet that the majority of the Xbox games will be backwards compatible by Sony's PS3 launch in the US. In either case this is good news for gamers, not a "this sucks" kinda repot.

Sony's design isn't going after most women with the PS3, but to be fair they are doing lots of things different (no x-box live-style service, taking huge losses for years on each sale of the system, etc.).

No it doesn't! You obviously haven't got a fully wired RGB compatible scart lead and are therefore missing out on optimal display quality. Are you using the composite lead that comes with the ps2? This works with dvd's but you don't get a nice crisp picture like with rgb (or svideo, slightly worse than rgb but still better than composite).

Mine's a uk ps2 too. See this site